Following Thursday’s SIU Board of Trustees meeting, SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook sent a university-wide email expressing his frustration with the board and the Carbondale campus.

“Many Trustees stated that they thought SIUE should receive additional funding (i.e., “a bigger piece of the pie”) and their confidence was high that we would accomplish great things at SIUE with additional funding,” Pembrook said in the emailed statement.

The email follows the four to three vote to kill a proposed $5.125 million reallocation of state funding from the Carbondale campus to the Edwardsville campus.

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The financial problems at the Carbondale campus should not impede the progress at SIUE, “which depends, in part, on an equitable distribution of the state allocation,” according to Pembrook.

“The time has come for SIUE to capitalize upon its strengths and potential to create a new era, something that has been recognized by our legislators,” Pembrook said

Read more: Board of Trustees votes against $5.125 million funding shift to SIUE

State representative Jay Hoffman, who represents SIUE’s district, will introduce legislation that would create separate trustee boards for the Carbondale and Edwardsville campus, according to Pembrook’s email obtained by the Daily Egyptian.

“The legislation would also shift the current allocation conversation from the SIU Board of Trustees to the Illinois legislature,” Pembrook said.

Illinois House Bill 5861 calls for the abolishment of the current SIU Board of Trustees and calls for separate boards to be created for the Edwardsville campus and the Carbondale campus.

The bill would also realign the affiliation of the medical school, traditionally affiliated with the Carbondale campus, to the SIU Edwardsville Campus.

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SIUC Chancellor Carlo Montemagno said he was disappointed with the response to a request for collaboration between the campuses.

“The Carbondale campus has never been opposed to exploring the budget allocation model,” Montemagno said in an emailed statement. “Our concern was that we were not invited to be part of a collaborative process that considered the multiple factors and metrics that should be taken into account before making changes that could have a substantial impact on our campus and region.”

The SIU Board of Trustees’ vote provides opportunity to evaluate the allocation of resources objectively, according to Montemagno’s statement.

“We still hope that happens,” Montemagno said. “Meanwhile, SIU Carbondale will continue to move forward.”

Photography and multimedia editor Brian Muñoz can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @BrianMMunoz.

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